Sunday, April 6, 2014

TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 3-16 - It's Not Easy Being Green

Finally, a little back story.  This episode wasn't as shattering as last week's, and that's a good thing.  I needed a little time off, you know?  But it was still a packed episode with some good background on Zelena.  Plus we got a nice cameo there at the end.

I just wonder how many people are going to complain about those slippers.  I like the fact that the producers did their homework (although part of it might be the copyright issues with MGM).  But more on that later.

Let's start with our flashback, shall we?  And our flashback starts in…Oz as a tornado delivers a baby in a basket to a couple walking along the yellow brick road.  The woman wants to keep the child, but the husband isn't interested, especially when the baby keeps a tree from falling on them.  The wife dismisses it, however, and sends adopts the baby, whom she calls Zelena.

The next time we check in to Oz, Zelena is a grown woman and her mother has died.  She is tending her father, shaving him as she did Gold a few episodes back.  When she slips and cuts him, she congers a handkerchief, but her father flips out, calling her wicked.  And that's when he tells her the truth about her being adopted.

Upset, she goes to see The Wizard to find out more about her past.  He stays behind his curtain, but he does use a nice projection in the floor to show her Cora abandoning her to the tornado.  Why?  Because Zelena could never become royalty, so Cora didn't want her.  Then he reveals that Zelena has a sister who is being trained by Rumplestiltskin.  Zelena wants very much to meet her family, so the Wizard gives her silver slippers to travel between realms.  All he asks in return is something from Rumple.

Zelena arrives in Enchanted Forest to be met by Rumple who immediately takes to her and her power.  He starts to train her, getting her to draw on her anger and then trying to counter that with happy memories.  Rumple is up front with her that he is training Regina to cast a curse for him.  Zelena is sure she can do it.

However, Rumple has his doubts and keeps training Regina.  When Zelena finds out, she turns very jealous, and starts to turn green with envy.  (I knew it!)  Then she tries to kill Regina, only it turns out to be Rumple in disguise.  He tells Zelena that she can never cast the curse since she'd have to give up what she loves most, and that is clearly Rumple.  When she finds out that he really wanted to go to a land without magic, she reveals what her slippers could do, but it is too late at this point.  Zelena is too mad at being rejected and goes back to Oz.

Now much powerful with her magic, she rips the curtain hiding the Wizard off the wall to reveal the man behind the curtain.  Pay attention to him because the man, in this case, is Walsh.  I'd seen that Emma's would be fiancee was supposed to be back tonight, but I'd forgotten that fact.  Anyway, he is a circus performer from Kansas, but Zelena decides to use him as her henchman, turning him into a flying monkey inspired by a poster from the circus that Walsh had kept on the wall behind his work station.  As the scene ends, she talks about a plan to get revenge and turns fully green.

So, what is everyone up to in Storybrooke?

The first shot there was of the funeral for Neal.  Not a word was said, but the various characters shoveled dirt on his coffin.  And without a word being said, it was still a hard scene to watch.  I'd almost recovered from his death, and watching it all again was so hard.

Hook offers to take Henry and tell him some about his father.  After all, he knew Neal as a boy - a fact that he slips up and tells Henry.  But when they finally start talking about Neal's past losing his own father at about the same age Henry is, he begins to soften toward his father.

Also Tinker Bell was back in this episode.  She spotted the tattoo on Robin Hood, and immediately tries to nudge Regina a bit toward her soul mate.  Regina seems very reluctant, however.

All this is happening at the wake for Neal at Granny's.  Right after Hook takes off with Henry, who should crash the wake but Zelena.  She challenges Regina to a dual at dusk.  And why?  Because they are half sisters.  Regina doesn't believe it, but she starts going through the stuff of Cora's she has in her vault and finds an old letter that convinces her.

She won't talk about the contents of the letter to the others but goes into the woods.  It's there she runs into Robin Hood, and she allows him to read the letter.  It's from Rumple, and it talks about finding Cora's oldest daughter and how powerful she is.  Regina always thought it was about her, but now she knows better.  (Of course, I thought the letter could still be interrupted to be her from what Robin read, but what do I know?)

Meanwhile, the rest of the town thinks maybe they can get Gold on their side even though Zelena controls his dagger.  They go out to the farmhouse with Belle, and she goes into the cellar to try to get through to him.  (And yes, she did volunteer.)  However, Zelena is hiding down there, and she gives them a warning.  If they try to interfere again, she'll kill them.

Which leaves us with the confrontation on the streets of Storybrooke.  Regina waits until the last possible second to appear, but when she does, it goes much like she and everyone else feared.  She is no match for Zelena's power.  In fact, after not too long, Zelena grabs Regina and throws her into the clock tower.  And then she tries to get what she really wants from Regina - her heart.  Only Regina takes a lesson she learned from her mother - never take her heart to a witch's fight.  (And when exactly did she learn this from Cora?)  Temporary set back, Zelena flies off.

Regina then goes into the forest where Robin is guarding Regina's heart.  Symbolically, she then gives it to him for safe keeping.  And he asks her out for a drink again, an offer she agrees to accept with a smile on her face.

But the last scene finds Zelena back with Gold in his cell.  It's then she reveals her master plan - she wants to go back in time and make herself be the one that Cora and Rumple choose.  Somehow, she thinks that David's courage and Regina's heart can do this, but I'm not sure exactly how that will happen.  I mean, it would have taken all three genies and rewriting the laws of magic in the Wonderland spin off, so how does Zelena think she can do it?

So, I promised to talk about the slippers.  In the book, they were indeed silver, so anyone who complains about them getting the color wrong is actually wrong.  They were changed to ruby for the movie to take full advantage of Technicolor.  Of course, MGM also has the rights to ruby slippers (at least that's my understanding), so they might have objected to them being used in a Disney controlled show, which forced the producers to go back to the book.  Either way, they got it right (you know, just in case you were wondering).

I also got to noticing tonight that the three major witches we've met so far have names that end in A, Cora, Regina, and Zelena.  I know this is a naming convention that was used most of the time on both Bewitched and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  What I'm wondering is why this has become a witch naming convention.

Oh, you want some thoughts on the show and theories about the future.  I'm afraid I have none.  Hook did warn Emma (someone else with powers and a name that ends in A) that revenge was not all it was cracked up to be, something he learned from his quest to get Rumple in season two.  But how will that play out?  And what does Zelena need to enact her new spell?  Will she get what she needs?

I really have no idea what is coming next story wise.  Next week looks like it will focus on Hook and bring back Ariel, so that will be fun.  But beyond that, I'm in the dark.  You got a good theory on what is coming next?  Lay it on me.


  1. My sister and I look forward to reading your re-cap blog after each episode (of Castle and Once Upon A Time/Wonderland) to see what we might have missed and other theories you have.
    Last night after watching this episode we both noticed a theme with the items Zelena is collecting - David's courage (from the sword), and Regina's heart.. With Zelena being the Wicked Witch of the West we're thinking that the items she is collecting are the same from the Wizard of Oz story. The Lion's courage, the Tin Man's heart.. next would be the Scarecrow's brain. Could that be Mary-Margret's baby? Its our theory at least.
    Thanks for the posts, we do enjoy them so!

    1. Of course! That makes perfect sense. You can see it's been a long time since I read/watched Oz since I didn't pick up on that.

      And thanks for reading and commenting. It's nice to know people are enjoying what I write.

    2. Wow - good theory and it would tie in so nicely with the whole Oz thing. Good job thinking that one through!

    3. This is why I love getting comments from people. It gives me new theories to work with as I think through the show. Really do appreciate both of you commenting.

  2. Another excellent episode. I also enjoy reading your recap because sometimes I just find it difficult to follow the storyline or I'm not hearing what is being said on the TV. Reading what you write helps to clarify some things for me.

    But that being said, maybe you can help me out with something. I don't understand why Cora gave her first born up. Because she could never be royal? Zelena is only a baby for heaven's sake. Is it because Cora never married the father so she is out of wedlock? If memory serves me correctly, Regina's father wasn't royal. She had to marry a royal to become royal. So why couldn't Zelena marry to become royal? I think I'm missing something here.

    It was a really good, packed with information episode. And I like the fact that Zelena turning green is due to the envy she has for Regina. And something else. Did Zelena fall in love with Rumple? Or did she just want to keep him to herself to learn all the magic and be the spell caster?

    Loved the ending so that we know who the flying monkey is. Liked that in that scene he kind of looked like the actor who portrayed the wizard in the latest Disney movie. But there is more than one flying monkey, right? Because one of the dwarfs was turned into a flying monkey.

    I did know about the slippers - that they are silver in the book and were made red to show up more in the movie :)

    1. I'm not sure on that either. Maybe Rumple saw that with the eye? I'm trying to remember, but I think that Regina's father was a minor royal, like the younger brother of a crowned prince or something. When we learned that in season two, it surprised me since it wasn't something that made sense with what we'd already seen. Unfortunately, I didn't make it that far in my rewatch of season two during the hiatus.

      This really wasn't clear last night, so maybe we'll learn more about that down the road.

      Zelena definitely wanted to keep Rumple to herself, but maybe she did fall in love as well. That was my impression, although they didn't come out and state it.

      There has been speculation that some of the missing, (including at least one dwarf, I believe) is now a flying monkey. The only person we've seen be turned into a monkey is Little John.

      I really need to watch the recent Disney Oz movie. I didn't make that connection, but it isn't a big surprise and very cool.

  3. Oh, and I'm every so excited that Ariel will be back next week!

    1. That was a very pleasant surprise in the preview. I hadn't heard she was coming back.